On Guam, an architect's seal can be any image, imprint or other medium the Board approves, but the signature and date beside it must be written by hand. 22 GCA § 32116(d) calls for a Board-authorized design showing your name, registration number and professional designation, states no size, and adds a certification statement next to the seal. This page covers content, devices, signing, sealed documents and the house exception.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against 22 GCA § 32116 and the Guam Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Documents that take the seal | Every technical submission, from drawings and specifications to plans and reports, that you prepare or that is prepared under your responsible control. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| What sealing certifies | You held responsible control over the content while it was prepared and met the required professional standard of care. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| Face content | The name you are registered under, your registration number and your professional designation. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Design | Authorized by the Board. The statute does not print a layout. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Size and shape | Nothing in 22 GCA ch. 32 sets a diameter, a shape or a letter height. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) (no dimension) |
| Device | Whatever image, imprint or other medium the Board approves, as long as the mark is permanent. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Signature and date | Written by hand next to the seal, together with the statutory certification statement. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Electronic signature | Refused. Facsimile signatures and computer-generated signatures or dates do not count. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Houses | A single family dwelling may carry an architect's or a civil engineer's seal; two family dwellings and such subdivisions need only a civil engineer's. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| Lapse or expiry | The chapter does not say what happens to the seal on expiration, suspension or revocation. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
Licensed in more than one place? Check each jurisdiction in architect seal requirements by state. How an architect reaches licensure in Guam, from education through the ARE, appears in the national table on architect licensing requirements.
Which architectural documents need the seal on Guam?
Every technical submission you prepare, or that is prepared under your responsible control. 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A) names drawings, specifications, plans and reports among them, and it gives the seal a defined meaning whenever you apply it.
Sealing states two things: you were in responsible control of the content while it was being prepared, and you applied the required professional standard of care. That meaning travels with every sheet and report your seal appears on.
What goes on the face of a Guam architect seal?
The name you are registered under, your registration number and your professional designation, arranged in the design the Board authorizes. Those elements come from the general provision in § 32116(d); the architect paragraph, (d)(9), adds no list of its own.
The same shared section also mentions a professional title and an expiration date. Those are aimed at professional engineers, since the section deals directly with an engineer's discipline and certificate expiry; our page on discipline and expiration date fields on Guam PE seals explains them. Whether the Board's architect design carries an expiration date is not settled by the text, so ask the Board.
How big should a Guam architect seal be?
The statute does not say. Nothing in 22 GCA ch. 32 fixes a diameter, a shape or a lettering height for any profession the chapter registers, so size and layout are matters for the design the Board authorizes.
Plan the title block around the whole group rather than the seal alone. Your signature and the date are written by hand next to the seal, and the certification statement sits with them.
Can the seal be a stamp, an embosser or an electronic image?
Any of the three, if the Board approves it and the mark is permanent. Section 32116(d) describes the seal as an “image, imprint or other medium” that the Board approves and requires it to leave a permanent mark on the sealed document.
Read functionally, that covers an inked rubber stamp, the raised impression of an embosser and a seal image the Board has approved. Board approval and permanence are the two tests; beyond them, the statute leaves the device type open.
Why must the signature and date be handwritten?
Because § 32116(d) shuts out every substitute. It requires your written signature and date next to the seal, says a facsimile signature will not be accepted, and rejects computer-generated signatures and dates outright.
The restriction targets the signature and the date, not the seal. That is how a Board-approved seal image and a hand signature can share the same Guam sheet.
What statement is written next to the seal?
A certification that the work “was prepared by me or under my responsible control.” Section 32116(d) has your signature and date signed adjacent to the seal together with that statement, so the three appear as one group on each sealed document.
The statement echoes the responsible control language of (d)(9)(A). Leave room for it on every sheet, and on reports and specifications as well as drawings.
Can a Guam architectural submission be fully electronic?
No. The statute accepts a Board-approved electronic seal image but not an electronic signature, so a digital file can carry the seal image while the signature and date beside it still have to be handwritten.
Section 32116(d) names no certificate authority, cryptographic standard or verification procedure, because it makes no provision for an electronic signature of any kind. Plan on signing sealed sets by hand.
Does a house on Guam need an architect's seal?
Not necessarily. Under subsection (d)(9)(B) of the seal section, plans for an individual single family dwelling can be sealed by an architect or by a professional engineer in the civil branch, and either seal is sufficient.
For two family dwellings, or a subdivision of single and two family dwellings, a civil engineer's seal suffices. Subsection (d)(9)(C) still requires an engineer's seal of the appropriate branch on each part of the work that falls under a separate branch of engineering.
What happens to the seal when a registration expires or is suspended?
The chapter does not say. Section 32116(d) gives no rule for the seal after expiration, suspension or revocation, and it is silent on whether a registration number can be reissued.
The shared section does list an expiration date among the elements it mentions, but that element is written for professional engineers, so it does not settle the question for architects either.
What should you settle with the Board before ordering?
The authorized design. The statute requires a seal of a design the Board authorizes and publishes no dimension, so the Board's design is your reference for layout and for any size before you place an order.
Then check that the face reads your registered name, your registration number and your professional designation. A signature stamp cannot replace your hand, since the statute refuses facsimile signatures. For the same shared provision applied to other professions, see our pages on Guam landscape architect seal rules and Guam land surveyor seal rules; the Guam notary stamp and embosser rules cover a separate seal.
Frequently asked questions
Does the signature go across the seal or beside it?
Beside it. Section 32116(d) has the written signature and date signed adjacent to the seal, meaning next to the impression, and it does not describe signing across the seal.
Can software add the date to the sheet?
No. Computer-generated dates are not acceptable under § 32116(d), and the statute has the date signed next to the seal along with your signature, so write it by hand.
Can I seal drawings a consultant prepared?
Only if they were prepared under your responsible control. Subsection (d)(9)(A) allows an architect to sign and seal only submissions the architect prepared or that people under the architect's responsible control prepared.
Does an architecture firm need its own seal on Guam?
The seal provision creates none. Section 32116(d) sets out no seal for firms and asks for no firm number anywhere on a sealed document; entity practice is handled in other parts of 22 GCA ch. 32 and in the Board's rules at 25 GAR ch. 1.
Which board registers architects on Guam?
The Guam Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors, under 22 GCA ch. 32, The Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors Law. The seal rules for each of its professions run through § 32116(d).
Once the Board's authorized design is in hand, choose your seal from our Guam stamps and seals collection.
